Method, system, and program for creating, recording, and distributing digital stream contents

ABSTRACT

There is provided a method of creating a digital stream contents to be distributed via a network from an input stream signal such as a video signal and an audio signal with a simple operation. A new moving image file is created every time a “NEW” button is clicked at such as a point where scenes of an image switch, and a moving image data from such point until the “NEW” button is clicked again is stored in the moving image file. Further, a speaker name and a slide file name of each scene may be obtained from a file which is prepared separately, and recorded in an administration file in relation with a corresponding moving image file name and a time code. The moving image file may however be a single file which is not separated for every scene.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates, to a method, a system or acomputer program for creating digital stream contents such as a movingimage data or an audio data from a stream signal such as a video signalor an audio signal, and also relates to a storage medium recording suchprogram. The present invention also relates to a method for distributingthe digital stream contents created by the above method.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] With the recent trend of broadband in connecting to the Internet,it is becoming common to distribute various moving image data via theInternet, and for example, there exists a web site distributing a videoimage captured from scenes of such as a briefing of account settlement.As a data format of moving images distributed via the Internet, forexample, formats such as Real Media or Windows Media™ are generallyused. When creating such moving image data conventionally, first abriefing of account settlement or the like to be captured is recorded onvideo, and from such captured signals moving image files of a desiredportion is created by an editing software corresponding to the format ofthe moving image data to be created, then editing is performed byappropriately rearranging the order of these files.

[0003] In such a case, with a conventional editing software, every timethe respective moving image files are created, setting of variousconditions such as bandwidth, image quality, and speech quality, andinputting of file names are required. Therefore, in such a case thatediting is to be conducted by dividing the inputted video signals intomultiple moving image files, an extremely large amount of time will berequired for the editing operation. For such a reason, an extensiveamount of time will be required from when an image is recorded until amoving image is distributed, and thus a prompt moving image distributioncannot be accomplished.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

[0004] Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide a digitalstream contents creating method which can create digital stream contentsto be distributed via a network with an easy operation from an inputstream signal such as a video signal or a speech signal, a digitalstream contents creating system, a digital stream contents creatingprogram, a storage medium recording such program, and a distributingmethod of the digital stream contents created by the above method.

[0005] In order to achieve the above object, a method of creatingdigital stream contents from an input stream signal by using an encodingmeans having a function to encode a stream signal into a digital streamdata comprises:

[0006] in accordance with predetermined operations, generating a newdata file, and recording in the generated data file a digital streamdata obtained by encoding the input stream signal by the encoding meansfrom the time of the predetermined operation until an occurrence of thesubsequent predetermined operation; and

[0007] recording identifying information of the generated data file inorder of its generation in an administration file.

[0008] According to the invention, when a predetermined operation isconducted, a new data file is created every time, and this data file isrecorded with a digital stream data until the next operation isconducted. Further, an identifying information of each data file isrecorded in an administration file according to its generated order.Therefore, for example, by conducting the predetermined operation atsuch as a timing when a scene of an input stream signal switches, adigital stream data file corresponding to each scene may be easilygenerated, and an identifying information of each data file (forexample, a file name) may be recorded in the administration fileaccording to the generated order of files. Incidentally, if identifyinginformation of such as a data file including stream contents to bedistributed and file names of each file are provided, distribution inthe network of digital stream contents may be conducted. Therefore,according to the present invention, digital stream contents which may bedistributed in the network can be created by a simple operation.

[0009] Note that, in this specification, the definition of “stream” inregards to a stream signal, a digital stream data, and a digital streamcontents, includes the meaning of having an element which changes astime passes such as a moving image or a speech.

[0010] The method of the invention may further comprise recordingidentifying information of an object data to be shown in synchronizationwith the proceeding of the input stream signal, in relation withidentifying information of a corresponding data file, in theadministration file. In this case, an identifying information of anobject which should be shown in synchronization with the proceeding ofthe inputted stream signal, in relation to an identifying information ofa data file to record the digital stream data, is recorded in theadministration file. As a result, the object data may be distributed insynchronization with the digital stream data.

[0011] Further, a method of creating digital stream contents from aninput stream signal by using an encoding means having a function toconvert a stream signal to a digital stream data comprises:

[0012] generating a data file, and recording the digital stream dataobtained by encoding the input stream signal by the encoding means inthe generated data file;

[0013] in accordance with a predetermined operation, obtaining a timecode at a time of the predetermined operation,; and

[0014] recording the obtained time code in an administration file.

[0015] According to the invention, when a predetermined operation isconducted, a time code at such point in time is obtained. Then, eachobtained time code is recorded in the administration file. Therefore,for example, by conducting the predetermined operation at such as atiming when a scene of the inputted stream signal switches, the timecode at the point of switching of each scene may be recorded in theadministration file. Incidentally, if a time code of a digital streamdata is provided, the contents data of a point in time relevant to suchtime code may be extracted and such portion may be distributed, so thatif there is an administration file recording the time code of the pointof switching scenes as above, the digital stream contents may bedistributed in the order according to such contents. Thus, according tothe present invention, a digital stream contents which may bedistributed in a network may be created by a simple operation.

[0016] The method of the invention may further comprise recordingidentifying information of an object data to be shown in synchronizationwith the proceeding of the input stream signal, in relation with acorresponding time code, in the administration file. In this case, anidentifying information of an object to be shown in synchronization withthe proceeding of the inputted stream signal is recorded, in relation toeach time code. As a result, the object data may be distributed insynchronization with the digital stream data.

[0017] The method of the invention may further comprise sending theadministration file and the data file to a predetermined distributionserver.

[0018] Further, a method of creating a digital stream contents by acomputer which can communicate with an encoding computer comprising anencoding means having a function to convert a stream signal to a digitalstream data comprises:

[0019] in accordance with predetermined operations, sending a firstorder to the encoding computer, the first order being an order to createa new data file in respect to the encoding computer, and to record adigital stream data obtained by encoding an input stream signal by theencoding means between the time of receiving the first order untilreceiving a subsequent first order, in the generated data file; and

[0020] sending a second order to the encoding computer, the second orderbeing an order to record identifying information of the generated datafile according to its generated order in an administration file.

[0021] In the invention, the second order may further include aninstruction to record identifying information of an object data to beshown in synchronization with the proceeding of an input stream inrelation with a corresponding time code, in the administration file.

[0022] Further, a method for creating a digital stream contents by acomputer which can communicate with an encoding computer comprising anencoding means having a function to convert a stream signal to a digitalstream data comprises:

[0023] sending a first order to obtain a time code at a present time, inaccordance with a predetermined operation to the encoding computer; and

[0024] sending a second order to record the obtained time code in anadministration file to the encoding computer.

[0025] In the invention, the second order may further include aninstruction to record identifying information of an object data which isto be shown in synchronization with the proceeding of an input streamsignal, in relation with identifying information of a corresponding datafile, in the administration file.

[0026] Further, the method of the invention may further comprise sendingan order to the encoding computer, the order including sending theadministration file and the data file to a predetermined distributingserver.

[0027] The invention also regards a digital stream contents creatingsystem which implements the method, a computer program product forcreating digital stream contents for enabling a computer to implementthe method, a computer-readable medium storing the computer program, anda computer program data signal embodied in a carrier wave andrepresenting sequences of instructions which cause the processor toimplement the method.

[0028] Further, a method for distributing a digital stream contentscomprises:

[0029] specifying a digital stream data file to be distributed and adistribution order with reference to the administration file; and

[0030] distributing the specified digital stream file in the specifiedorder.

[0031] Further, according to the invention, a method for distributing adigital stream contents comprises:

[0032] specifying respective time codes corresponding to a starting andan ending time of a digital stream data file to be distributed and adistribution order with reference to the administration file; and

[0033] distributing the digital stream data in between the specified twotime codes in the specified order.

[0034] Further, according to the invention, a method for distributing adigital stream contents comprises:

[0035] specifying the digital stream data file to be distributed and adistribution order with reference to the administration file;

[0036] distributing the specified digital stream file in the specifiedorder; and

[0037] distributing an object data related to the digital stream file insynchronization with distribution of each the digital stream file.

[0038] Further, the method of the invention may further comprise:

[0039] specifying respective time codes corresponding to a starting andan ending time of a digital stream data to be distributed and adistributing order with reference to the administration file;

[0040] distributing the digital stream data in between two of thespecified time codes in the specified order; and distributing an objectdata related to the relevant time code in synchronization withdistribution of each the digital stream data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0041] Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by wayof further example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings,in which:

[0042]FIG. 1 is an entire structural diagram of an embodiment of thepresent invention;

[0043]FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an editing screen which is displayedby starting a moving image editing program;

[0044]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relation of a scene of a movingimage, an operation timing of each button, and a file name of a movingimage file generated according to the operation timing, and the like;

[0045]FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a speaker order settingfile;

[0046]FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a slide specifying file;

[0047]FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example of an administration file;

[0048]FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a flow of a process of the movingimage editing program;

[0049]FIG. 8 is an example of a display screen of a user computerreceiving moving image distribution; and

[0050]FIG. 9 is an entire structural view of a system according toanother embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0051]FIG. 1 is a structural diagram of an entire system according to anembodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the system ofthis embodiment comprises a processing computer 10. The processingcomputer 10 is provided with an input terminal 10 a of an audio/videosignal (hereinbelow, referred to as “AV signal”), and this inputterminal 10 a is inputted with an AV signal from avideo camera 12 oravideo tape recorder (VTR) 14. The processing computer 10 comprises anencoder 10 b for converting the AV signal to data in a predeterminedmoving image format (for example, Windows Media™ format or Real Mediaformat), and may convert the AV signal inputted to the input terminal 10a into a moving image data in real time by the encoder 10 b.

[0052] The processing computer 10 is connected to the Internet 16, andas described below, may upload such as a moving image file to a movingimage distribution server 18 in the Internet 16. The moving imagedistribution server 18 distributes moving images based on such as movingimage files uploaded from the processing computer 10, to a user computer20 which is accessing to the server 18 via the Internet 16.

[0053] A storage device of the processing computer 10, such as a harddisk drive 10 c, is installed with a moving image editing program 30.The moving image editing program 30 is installed from a storage medium,for example, a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or the like, to thehard disk drive 10 c. However, a moving image editing program 30 may bedownloaded to the processing computer 10 via a network and installed tothe hard disk drive 10 c. By running the moving image editing program 30in the processing computer 10, moving image files can be edited andcreated, as described below. Note that, in this embodiment, an examplein a case a moving image file is generated from AV signals containingmoving images captured from the scene of a conference is described.

[0054] When the moving image editing program 30 is started in theprocessing computer 10, an editing screen as shown in FIG. 2 isdisplayed. As shown in FIG. 2, the editing screen includes such as animage display region for displaying the AV signal inputted to the inputterminal 10 a in real time, slide display regions for displaying slidepictures corresponding to the respective scenes of an image, an “initialsetting” menu button, and the respective operation buttons of “START”,“NEW”, and “END”.

[0055] When the “initial setting” menu button is clicked, an initialsetting screen for conducting various initial settings is displayed. Onthis initial setting screen, various settings may be conducted, such assetting of encoding conditions such as bandwidth, image quality, andspeech quality, setting of a base file name (a file name to be the basewhen automatically generating a file name of a generated moving imagefile), creating and editing of a speaker order setting file registeringthe names of speakers who appear in the image in order of theirappearance, creating and editing of slide specifying files registeringslides to be displayed corresponding to each speaker, and setting ofautomatic uploading option (an option of whether or not a moving imagefile is automatically uploaded to the moving image distribution server18 when creation of a moving image file is completed). Note that, theuser may, for example, obtain in advance a plan of an agenda of aconference, and based on this plan of the agenda of the conference maycreate a speaker order setting file and a slide specifying file.Further, a predetermined directory within the hard disk drive 10 cstores a slide data file (slide picture file) of each slide file nameregistered in the slide specifying file.

[0056] In the above editing screen, when the “START” button is clicked,the encoded moving image data starts to be recorded to a moving imagefile by the encoder 10 b. Further, when the “NEW” button is clicked, themoving image file currently recording data is closed, and moving imagedata from then on is recorded in a moving image file with a new filename. Note that, the moving image file name is automatically generated,for example, in a format of a combination of a base file name set in theabove initial setting and a continuous number. Further, a time code at apoint in time the “NEW” button is clicked is obtained from an encodedmoving image data.

[0057] When the “END” button is clicked, the moving image file which isbeing created at this point in time is closed. Further, a speaker nameand a corresponding slide file name are read successively from thespeaker order setting file and the slide specifying file, and these areadditionally recorded in an administration file with the correspondingtime code and the moving image file name. In a case the automaticuploading option is selected, a generated moving image file, anadministration file, and a slide data file are automatically uploaded bya protocol such as FTP to the moving image distribution server 18.

[0058]FIG. 3 shows the relationship of a scene of a moving images, anoperation timing of each button, and file names of moving image filesgenerated accordingly. Note that, FIG. 3 shows an example in a case amoving image file is generated from an image captured from the scene ofa certain conference, and a file of a content shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5are to be generated in advance as the speaker order setting file and theslide specifying file.

[0059] In the example shown in FIG. 3, “conf” is specified as a basefile name, and when the “START” button is clicked, the first movingimage file “conf_(—)1” is created. Thereafter, every time the “NEW”button is clicked at the time of changing speakers, from then on movingimage data until a “NEW” button (or the “END” button) is clicked isrecorded in new moving image files “conf_(—)2”, and “conf_(—)3”. Then,after the “END” button is clicked, the speaker name and the slide filename are subsequently read from the speaker setting file and the slidesetting file, and they are recorded in the administration file with themoving image file name and the time code. Note that, recording to theadministration file may be conducted every time a new moving image fileis generated by clicking the “START” or the “NEW” button.

[0060] Further, in the example shown in FIG. 3, two slide files“Slide_A” and “Slide_F” are used in respect to a speaker “Jimmy JoeBob”, and corresponding thereto, in the example of the slide specifyingfile shown in FIG. 4, these two slide file names are listed in the orderof use for the speaker “Jimmy Joe Bob”. In this way when a plurality ofslide files are used in respect to the same speaker, each slide filename is recorded in order of use corresponding to the speaker. However,the method of writing to the slide specifying file is not limitedthereto, and for example, similarly to the speaker order setting file,the slide file name to be used may be recorded in order of use. Inshort, a data structure is required such that a slide file used in eachscene can be specified.

[0061]FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the content of the administrationfile. An example of an administration file generated in the exampleshown in FIG. 3 is specifically shown. In this embodiment, as shown inFIG. 6, the administration file is written in XML (extensible MarkupLanguage), and is structured, with a <session> element surrounded by atag <session>-</session> as a route element, comprising one <setting>element surrounded by tag <setting>-</setting> and a plurality of<event> elements surrounded by tag <event>-</event>. The <setting>element is an element describing such as a data format and a date ofcreating a moving image file. Further, each <event> element is anelement corresponding to each scene separated by clicking the “START” orthe “NEW” button, and is respectively structured by such as a <filename>element describing a moving image file name, a <timecode> elementshowing a time code of a scene starting time, a <speaker> elementshowing speakers appearing in the image of the corresponding movingimage file, and a <slidetitle> element describing the file name of aslide to be displayed in each scene.

[0062]FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of the process of themoving image editing program 30 described above. As shown in FIG. 7,when the “INITIAL SETTING” menu button is clicked first (S100), theinitial setting screen is displayed, thus initial setting of such as anencoding condition, a base file name, a speaker order setting file, aslide specifying file, and an automatic uploading option is performed(S102). On the other hand, when the “START” button is clicked (S104), acounter variable i is first initialized to 1 (S105). Next, the speakerorder setting file and the slide specifying file are referred to, andthe ith (first) and the (i+1)th (second) speaker names and correspondingspeaker file names are obtained, and the slide data of the obtainedslide file names and the speaker names are displayed in the slidedisplay region (S106). Further, a time code at the present time isobtained and stored in the variable “timecode [i],” and a new movingimage file (file name: “(base file name)_(i)” is generated, and fromthen on the encoded moving image data is recorded in this moving imagefile (S108). Then, the value of the counter i is increased by just 1(S110).

[0063] After the creating of the moving image data file is started asdescribed above, and the “NEW” button is clicked (S112), the time codeat that point in time is obtained and stored in the variable “timecode[i],” and further, the moving image file currently recording data (filename: “(base file name)_(i−1)”) is closed, and a new moving image file(file name: “(base file name)_(i)”) is generated. From then on, thismoving image file records moving image data which is encoded after the“NEW” button is clicked (S114).

[0064] Next, the speaker order setting file and the slide specifyingfile are referred to and the ith, (i−1)th, and (i+1)th speaker names andthe corresponding slide file names are obtained, and the slide data ofthe obtained slide file name is displayed with the speaker name in theslide display region (S116). Then, the value of i is increased by just 1(S118), and the “NEW” button (or the “END” button) waits to be clickedagain.

[0065] On the other hand, when the “END” button is clicked (S120), afile of the moving image file currently recording data (file name:“(base file name)_+(i)”) is closed (S122). Then, the present value of i(namely, the number of created moving image files) is stored as avariable N (S124), and in respect to i=1−N, a time code timecode[i], theith speaker name, and the ith slide file name are recorded in theadministration file (S126). Then, when the automatic uploading option isselected (S128), the created N moving image files (file name: “(basefile name)_(—)1”-“(base file name)_(N)”), the administration file, andthe slide data file are uploaded to the moving image distribution server18 by FTP or the like (S130).

[0066] Next, the process at the moving image distribution server 18 towhich the respective moving image files and the administration filecreated as above are uploaded, is explained.

[0067] The moving image distribution server 18 prepares a web pagescreen data for distributing moving image files uploaded from theprocessing computer 10. This web page screen data includes such as amoving image distributing program for distributing moving images (or alink to the moving image distribution program) and an order for startinga program for moving image playback in the user computer 20 which isaccessing thereto.

[0068] The moving image distribution program is described by, forexample JavaScript™ and the like, and the program has a function ofsending each moving image file to a user computer 20 in a specifiedorder, and in a case a slide file name is specified corresponding toeach moving image file name in the administration file, sending thecorresponding slide file to the user computer 20 in synchronization withsending the moving image file. For example, in a case the content of theadministration file is as shown in FIG. 6, and moving images regardingthe third speaker “Joey Tranducci” is not to be distributed, thedistributing order should be specified as “1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7.” Then themoving image file is sent to the user computer 20 in the order of“conf_(—)1”, “conf_(—)2”, “conf_(—)4” “conf_(—)5”, “conf_(—)6”,“conf_(—)7”, and slide files are sent in the order of “Slide_A”,“Slide_B”, “Slide_D”, “Slide_E”, “Slide_F”, “Slide_G”, insynchronization with these moving image files.

[0069] Note that, specifying for activating the moving image playbackprogram is conducted by for example, an <object> tag in HTML statement,and a playback program corresponding to the format of the moving imageto be distinguished (for example, Windows Media™ Player in a case themoving image data is in Windows Media™ format) is specified.

[0070] When there is an access from the user computer 20 to a URL of theabove moving image distributing web page screen data, this web pagescreen data is sent to the relevant user computer 20. Thus, in the usercomputer 20, the moving image playback program is started, the movingimage files sent from the moving image distribution server 18 aresubsequently played back, and when slide data is sent, such slidepicture is displayed in synchronization with the moving image which isplayed back.

[0071]FIG. 8 is an example of a display screen of the user computer 20which is receiving moving images distributed as described above FIG. 8shows an example of distributing the scene of a briefing of a company'saccount settlement, and displays the moving image of a presenter at theleft side of the screen and a slide picture at the right side of thescreen, respectively.

[0072] As described above, according to the system of this embodiment,an image of an inputted AV signal is monitored, and with a simpleoperation of clicking the “NEW” button at a separation of a scene (forexample, at the time the speakers change), a moving image filecorresponding to each screen may be created and an administration filerecording a file name of each moving image file can be created. For thisreason, in the moving image distribution server 18 which has uploadedthe moving image files, just by specifying the distributing order ofthese moving image files, a moving image data edited to a desiredcontent can be distributed.

[0073] Further, the slide file name corresponding to each moving imagefile is read from the slide specifying file and automatically recordedto the administration file, and the moving image distribution server 18refers to this administration file and automatically distributes slidedata in synchronization with the proceeding of the moving image. Forthis reason, in the case of such as a presentation using a slide, byjust registering the slide file name in the slide specifying file, themoving image and the slide picture can be easily distributed insynchronization with each other.

[0074] Note that, in the above embodiment, every time the “NEW” buttonis clicked, a new moving image file is created and the video image issplit to different moving image files for every scene, but the entirevideo image which is inputted may be stored in a single moving imagefile, without splitting the moving image file. As described above, theadministration file is recorded with a time code at the time each sceneis switched, and by referring to the time code included in the movingimage data, the moving image data at an arbitrary point in time in themoving image file may be easily accessed. Therefore, by merely recordingthe time code which is a split in the scenes in the administration file,the moving image data of a desired interval may be extracted based onthis time code and sent to the user computer 20.

[0075] Further, in the above embodiment, the administration filesubsequently records such as the file name of each moving image filewhich is generated, the corresponding speaker's names and slide filenames, or the like, and the moving image distributing program in themoving image distribution server 18 specifies which moving image file isdistributed in what order. However, information for specifying themoving image files to be distributed and their order may be recorded inthe administration file, and the moving image distributing program maydistribute moving images according to this information.

[0076] Further, in the above embodiment, assuming that the order ofspeakers is known in advance, the speaker order setting file and theslide specifying file are created before the moving image file iscreated, and the administration file is automatically generated at thetime of creating the moving image file. However, without being limitedto the above, after the moving image file is created, the speaker ordersetting file and the slide specifying file may be created, and accordingto their contents, the speaker name and the slide file name may berecorded in the administration file. Alternatively, the user maydirectly edit the administration file, and input the speaker name andthe slide file name.

[0077] Further, in the above embodiment, explanation has been made for acase where moving images are distributed as a digital stream contents,and the slide data is distributed in synchronization with the movingimages. However, the present invention is not limited to the above, andis applicable to a case of distributing audio signals as a digitalstream contents. Further, as an object which is in synchronization withthe digital stream contents, other than slides, arbitrary objects may beused such as, stream data such as a different moving image or audio, ananimation, or a web page.

[0078] Next, another embodiment of the present invention is explained.FIG. 9 is a structural diagram of a system of this embodiment. In thisembodiment, there are separately provided, encoding computers 50, 52 forencoding the moving image data, an editing computer 54 for editingoperations of moving image, and they may communicate with each other viathe LAN 56. This LAN 56 is connected to the Internet 16. A video signalfrom a video camera 12 or a video tape recorder 14 is inputted to A/Vinput terminals 50 a, 52 a of the encoding computers 50, 52 via the AVdistributor 58. The encoding computers 50, 52 comprise encoders 50 b, 52b which conduct encoding in a moving image format different to eachother (for example, Windows Media™ or Real Media).

[0079] In this embodiment, the editing computer 54 is installed with amoving image editing program 60. When the moving image editing program60 is started, an editing screen similar to the moving image editingprogram 30 in the first embodiment is displayed. Then, when therespective operation buttons of “START”, “NEW”, and “END” included inthis screen are clicked, the corresponding processes such as an encodingprocess, a process of generating the moving image files, a process ofgenerating an administration file, a process of uploading data to themoving image distribution server 18, and the like are not executed inthe editing computer 54, but an order to conduct a relevant process issent to the encoding computers 50, 52 via the LAN 56, and the actualprocesses are conducted by the encoding computers 50, 52.

[0080] In this way by separating the encoding computers 50, 52 and theediting computer 54 and connecting them by the LAN 56, even with acomputer which does not have a moving image encoder, it becomes possibleto edit a moving image by just connecting to the LAN 56.

[0081] Note that, in the example shown in FIG. 9, two encoding computers50, 52 are provided in order to handle the two kinds of moving imageformats, but without limiting to the above, one or three or moreencoding computers may be provided corresponding to one or three kindsof moving image formats.

[0082] As described above, according to the present invention, a digitalstream contents which may conduct distribution in a network may becreated by a simple operation.

[0083] Further, by recording an identifying information of an objectdata in relation with each time code and an identifying information of afile, distribution of the object data may be conducted insynchronization with the stream contents.

1. A method of creating digital stream contents from an input streamsignal by using an encoding means having a function to encode a streamsignal into a digital stream data, said method comprising: in accordancewith predetermined operations, generating a new data file, and recordingin said generated data file a digital stream data obtained by encodingsaid input stream signal by said encoding means from the time of saidpredetermined operation until an occurrence of the subsequentpredetermined operation; and recording identifying information of saidgenerated data file in order of its generation in an administrationfile.
 2. A method of creating digital stream contents from an inputstream signal by using an encoding means having a function to convert astream signal to a digital stream data, said method comprising:generating a data file, and recording said digital stream data obtainedby encoding said input stream signal by said encoding means in saidgenerated data file; in accordance with a predetermined operation,obtaining a time code at a time of said predetermined operation,; andrecording said obtained time code in an administration file.
 3. A methodas claimed in claim 1, further comprising recording identifyinginformation of an object data to be shown in synchronization with theproceeding of said input stream signal, in relation with identifyinginformation of a corresponding data file, in said administration file.4. A method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising recordingidentifying information of an object data to be shown in synchronizationwith the proceeding of said input stream signal, in relation with acorresponding time code, in said administration file.
 5. A method asclaimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising sending saidadministration file and said data file to a predetermined distributionserver.
 6. A method of creating a digital stream contents by a computerwhich can communicate with an encoding computer comprising an encodingmeans having a function to convert a stream signal to a digital streamdata, said method comprising: in accordance with predeterminedoperations, sending a first order to said encoding computer, said firstorder being an order to create a new data file in respect to saidencoding computer, and to record a digital stream data obtained byencoding an input stream signal by said encoding means between the timeof receiving said first order until receiving a subsequent first order,in said generated data file; and sending a second order to said encodingcomputer, said second order being an order to record identifyinginformation of said generated data file according to its generated orderin an administration file.
 7. A method for creating a digital streamcontents by a computer which can communicate with an encoding computercomprising an encoding means having a function to convert a streamsignal to a digital stream data, said method comprising: sending a firstorder to obtain a time code at a present time, in accordance with apredetermined operation to said encoding computer; and sending a secondorder to record said obtained time code in an administration file tosaid encoding computer.
 8. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein saidsecond order further includes an instruction to record identifyinginformation of an object data which is to be shown in synchronizationwith the proceeding of an input stream signal, in relation withidentifying information of a corresponding data file, in saidadministration file.
 9. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein saidsecond order further includes an instruction to record identifyinginformation of an object data to be shown in synchronization with theproceeding of an input stream in relation with a corresponding timecode, in said administration file.
 10. A method as claimed in any one ofclaims 6 to 9, further comprising sending an order to said encodingcomputer, said order including sending said administration file and saiddata file to a predetermined distributing server.
 11. A digital streamcontents creating system for implementing a method as claimed in any oneof claims 1 to 4 and 6 to
 9. 12. A computer program product for creatingdigital stream contents for enabling a computer to implement a method asclaimed in any one of claims 1 to 4 and 6 to
 9. 13. A computer-readablemedium storing a computer program as claimed in claim
 12. 14. A computerprogram data signal embodied in a carrier wave and representingsequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, causesaid processor to implement a method as claimed in any one of claims 1to 4 and 6 to
 9. 15. A method for distributing a digital stream contentscreated by a method in claim 1 or 6, comprising: specifying a digitalstream data file to be distributed and a distribution order withreference to said administration file; and distributing said specifieddigital stream file in said specified order.
 16. A method fordistributing a digital stream contents created by a method as claimed inclaim 2 or 7, comprising: specifying respective time codes correspondingto a starting and an ending time of a digital stream data file to bedistributed and a distribution order with reference to saidadministration file; and distributing said digital stream data inbetween said specified two time codes in said specified order.
 17. Amethod of distributing a digital stream contents created in a method asclaimed in claim 3 or 8, comprising: specifying said digital stream datafile to be distributed and a distribution order with reference to saidadministration file; distributing said specified digital stream file insaid specified order; and distributing an object data related to saiddigital stream file in synchronization with distribution of each saiddigital stream file.
 18. A method for distributing a digital streamcontents created in a method as claimed in claim 4 or 9, comprising:specifying respective time codes corresponding to a starting and anending time of a digital stream data to be distributed and adistributing order with reference to said administration file;distributing said digital stream data in between two of said specifiedtime codes in said specified order; and distributing an object datarelated to said relevant time code in synchronization with distributionof each said digital stream data.